From: wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org [mailto:wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of Anthony DiPierro
On 1/23/06, Peter Mackay peter.mackay@bigpond.com wrote:
I wonder at what point an image is so downgraded by thumbnailing as to be exempt from any challenge to fair use.
...
I ask because there are some articles that would be well served by even a low-quality image, but it is all but impossible to find an image that we can use. An example would be in the case of an air disaster, where photographs would almost certainly be the
property of news agencies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tenerife_Disaster_Collision_afterma
th_27_ March_1977.png is one example, where the image is
scanned in at
low resolution.
Peter (Skyring)
I really don't see what encyclopedic knowledge a photo of a burning wing adds to the [[Tenerife disaster]] article. The computer generated image of the impact, on the other hand, that's somewhat informational.
Both are useful. The CG image shows how the accident happened in a way that no photograph can, simply because there was no camera present at an appropriate vantage point and the visibility was very poor.
The photograph of the burning wing illustrates the conditions at the crash scene. I don't think anyone who has ever travelled on an airliner can look at that photograph and not get a sense of how horrific the crash must have been, in a way that is going to be difficult to convey in text alone.
Of course, the computer generated image was apparently ripped off some website, even though it's perfectly possible for a Wikipedia to generate it herself.
"It is believed that the use of low-resolution images of works of art for critical commentary on the work in question, the artistic genre or technique of the work of art or the school to which the artist belongs on the English-language Wikipedia, hosted on servers in the United States by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law. Any other uses of this image, on Wikipedia or elsewhere, may be copyright infringement."
Which of those three uses is [[Image:Tenerife collision.jpg]] being used under?
Obviously none of them, and I will not defend the uploader for picking that usage, except to say that they have only been editing for a few months and could perhaps use guidance more than criticism.
However, thanks for spotting it, and perhaps you or some other public-spirited editor could take appropriate action?
Do you have any useful views on the question I asked about thumbnailing? Perhaps there is a detailed guideline already in place, but I haven't been able to spot it in perusing [[WP:FU]], where policy serials two and three are vague:
"2. The material should not be used in a manner that would likely replace the original market role of the original copyrighted media; our use of copyrighted material should not make it so that one no longer needs to purchase the actual product. For example, large copyrighted photographs from agencies that make their income selling photographs, for example, would likely not be "fair use" as it would be undermining the ability of the copyright holder to make money off of their work. 3. The amount of copyrighted work used should be as little as possible. Low-resolution images should be used instead of high-resolution images (especially images that are so high-resolution that they could be used for piracy). Do not use multiple images or media clips if one will serve the purpose adequately."
Is there some acceptable percentage, or do we just have to hope that a court will say that 5% or 10% or whatever is degraded enough that we can use it?
Peter (Skyring)